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What's a good source for wood purfling strips of many different woods? I'm not talking about the widely available black/white fiber stuff or herringbone or any of that, just plain wood in varying thicknesses. If the same supplier has a really wide variety of wood bindings as well, all the better. I'm aware of Gurian, but I don't know if I'm going to order enough for their minimum order (although maybe a group buy wouldn't be a bad idea).

Thanks!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

LMI has a prety good selection from ebony to mad rose as does Allied. I know BobC has a good selection of bindings as does Steve at Colonial. Purfling in anything but maple is hard to find

If you don't mind larger batches and a 200 dollar minimum order, Gurian Instruments is kinda hard to beat. Lots of species, colours, and options, and a nifty applet for building your own binding/purfling.

If you want something special but don't want to buy an entire layup's worth, per se (ie, 40 pieces or more), BobC and LMI are good bets.

Try this place

THIS PLACE

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

You might try veneer supply businesses. Try www.wood-veneers.com or www.veneersupplies.com. Their web sites are a little awkward to navigate, but you can get individual sheets or flitch-matched lots of some beautiful veneers for a small outlay of cash, and cut your own lines.

Todd,

I have some Gurian stuf and order from them every once in a while. I have a crappy picture of what I Have in stock on the pricing page on my website. I could be convinced to order what you need from Gurian and couple it with some other stuff I could stock.

Thanks

Shane

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Canada

[QUOTE=CarltonM] You might try veneer supply businesses. Try www.wood-veneers.com or www.veneersupplies.com. Their web sites are a little awkward to navigate, but you can get individual sheets or flitch-matched lots of some beautiful veneers for a small outlay of cash, and cut your own lines.[/QUOTE]

And a quick way to cut your own lines is to use a pasta maker -- ya know, the one with a hand crank and the rollers.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

[QUOTE=Michael McBroom] [QUOTE=CarltonM] You might try veneer supply businesses. Try www.wood-veneers.com or www.veneersupplies.com. Their web sites are a little awkward to navigate, but you can get individual sheets or flitch-matched lots of some beautiful veneers for a small outlay of cash, and cut your own lines.[/QUOTE]

And a quick way to cut your own lines is to use a pasta maker -- ya know, the one with a hand crank and the rollers.

Best,

Michael
[/QUOTE]

Huh. Never would've thought of that. That only goes for single, thin veneer stock, I take it? I've got an old one we never use, my late grandmothers, 50's Italian workmanship. Intruiging...

I use veneers. But I'm itching for some of Bob C's snakwood purfling!

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

OK, I'm going to reveal one of my secret weapons. Many years ago I bought
a 30" paper cutter from a bulletin board ad (this was before the internet, if
you kids can imagine such a time). It does a great job of cutting purfling
strips from veneer sheets.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

[QUOTE=Mattia Valente] [QUOTE=Michael McBroom] [QUOTE=CarltonM] You might try veneer supply businesses. Try www.wood-veneers.com or www.veneersupplies.com. Their web sites are a little awkward to navigate, but you can get individual sheets or flitch-matched lots of some beautiful veneers for a small outlay of cash, and cut your own lines.[/QUOTE]

And a quick way to cut your own lines is to use a pasta maker -- ya know, the one with a hand crank and the rollers.

Best,

Michael
[/QUOTE]

Huh. Never would've thought of that. That only goes for single, thin veneer stock, I take it? I've got an old one we never use, my late grandmothers, 50's Italian workmanship. Intruiging...[/QUOTE]

My pasta cutter (made in Italy -- we bought it over 10 years ago and used it once) has two cutters. Think linguini and fettuccini. The linguini cutter is perfect for side purfling (and for the top and back if you stairstep your binding/purfling channels) and the fettuccini cutter works well for wider pieces.

I either cut veneers into pieces about 5" wide or buy them from LMI (which are about that width), then feed them into the pasta maker. So far, I've cut curly maple and EIR. Grant Goltz, whom I picked up this trick from, has used it on several different kinds of wood. I find it works best if the veneer is wiped down with a damp cloth or paper towel first. Less splintering and breakage that way. The only trick is to keep the veneer sheet feeding straight. It will try to feed itself in at an angle if you don't watch it.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Please Michael, if u can, i'd really love pictures of the process!

Serge

Serge,

I haven't taken any pictures of my cutting purfling strips with a pasta cutter, but Grant Goltz has taken some. I "borrowed" a photo of his from the other forum, and will post it below. Man, I sure hope I don't get in trouble for this. I hope Grant doesn't mind.



He mentions in his post that it's important to keep the veneer damp. The wood in the photo is bloodwood.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

No problem, Michael. Actually you just beat me to it    How well this works depends on the veneer. The straightest grained stuff obviously works best. The thinner (1/40") veneers work the best. Make sure the wood is damp for the easiest cutting and least breakage. This is better a two person process, one cranking, one guiding the wood. Half of the strips will go straight down and half will pass through the open bottom of the cutter (you can see this on the photo). Don't expect to get all good strips, typically half will break, but can be used for soundholes, pegheads, etc.

As Michael noted, I have cut many varieties of wood this way. I have even sanded straight grained ebony down to veneer thickness and cut that. Tightly curled maple cuts quite nicely. There are some woods that are just too brittle, but you can't predict what will work. Just need to try it. The only thing is that cutting for one guitar gives piles of "extras"

Hope this helps.

Grant

There's a pretty good article in the latest issue of American Lutherie that describes a couple of different ways to cut your own strips as well. Can't remember the author's name for sure, but it might be Greg Byers.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Thanks for your help bros, sure was great !

Serge

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. I'll look into the two sources suggested by Lance and Steve, and also take a closer look at Gurian.

Shane, if I'm thinking I'd like to get stuff from Gurian, but I'm not putting together an order that's approaching their minimum, I'll get in touch with you.

Thanks also for the suggestions for making my own strips from veneer. I'll probably try that sometime, but if I can find what I'm looking for ready-made from a supplier, I think I'll do that for now.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Ready to ship pasta cutters to OLFers worldwide
Gg

Hmm, wonder how the pasta attachment for my wifes kitchenaid mixer would work? Wonder if my wife would kill me?

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

No problem Todd, just let me know and we will get something going. I just hope you find what you need.

Shane

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Canada